GATTORUGINE. 221 



wliif'h possess the functions of fingers bein,^ thus furnished; and 

 as one of the larger branches is seen to proceed forward from 

 a different source, as concerns the other, we are led to conclude 

 that the sense of touch and voluntary motion are equally present 

 in these fins. 



The Gattorugine is common in the Mediterranean, where it 

 has obtained the name now usually applied to it. We have 

 seen that it is also abundant in Cornwall, but it becomes more 

 scarce as we proceed eastward or to the north. Mr. Thompson, 

 of Belfast, obtained it on the coast of Ireland, and I have 

 received examples from Weymouth, through the kindness of 

 William Thompson, Esq., of that place. A specimen in the 

 British Museum is marked as having been taken in the Frith 

 of Forth, but it is not enumerated among the fishes of Scandi- 

 navia, by Professor Nilsson. 



The Gattorugine sometimes exceeds the length of nine inches, 

 but the example described measured only eight inches and a 

 fourth, and at its greatest depth thi-ee inches, which includes the 

 breadth of the dorsal fin; the general form short and heavy, 

 but growing more compressed and tapering towards the tail. 

 Eyes elevated and near each other, with a slight depression 

 between them, and above each a fleshy process, which in different 

 individuals is more or less divided into branches. The front 

 slopes suddenly from the eyes to the mouth; jaws equal, lips 

 membranous, gape moderate, teeth fine and regularly set. In 

 a single example a strong curved tooth was found in front of 

 the palate. Cheeks fleshy and full. The back rises high 

 suddenly behind the head to the beginning of the dorsal fin; 

 the belly protuberant. Behind the vent a short tubular process 

 Lateral line bent down as it comes opposite the vent, and 

 behind this it disappears. The dorsal fin begins on a ridge 

 close behind the head, anterior to the opening of the gills, and 

 becomes a little narrower above the vent, then wider but 

 gradually lower as it approaches the tail, to the root of which 

 it becomes united; as does sometimes the anal fin as it proceeds 

 from the vent. Tail more or less round. All the rays of these 

 tins fleshy, as are those of the pectoral fin, which is round; 

 the rays of the latter projecting beyond the membrane. The 

 ventral fins are on the throat, each one divided into two fleshy 

 processes, which separate near the root. The colour is usually 



